Saturday, May 28, 2016

The Baddeck 1, the first plane to be built in Canada, is readied for testing at the Petawawa army base in 1909. It was determined at that time that flying was too expensive for the Canadian military and it wasn't till 1914 that a Canadian Aviation Corps was created using a used Burgess Dunn seaplane.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

This C-46 propped up above a marshy area heralds the entrance of the Glen Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport NY.

When the pictures above were taken in the summer of 2016, the plane was looking a bit weathered. The museum did a refurb and repaint in spring of 2018 and in October of 2018 Richard K. Cole Jr. sent me his images of the aircraft's much improved appearance.

This beautiful Canton Crane was part of a line of shop cranes made by the Hull Acme Company of Cleveland, of which there does not seem to be a lot of info available online. This particular one is located at Ohio City Moto where it lives on the sales floor.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Great Western locomotive on the Niagara Railway Suspension bridge. The bridge was built in 1855 to promote trade between Canada and the US. Heavier and larger trains made the bridge obsolete and it was dismantled in 1897. See previous post here.

The Wellington was a prewar British medium bomber of unusual geodesic design. The aluminum lattice was covered with a layer of doped linen, making for a strong, robust and light aircraft. The airplane, designed in the mid-30s, served in front line service for the entire war and was finally retired in 1953.

Below from the outside, fuselages under construction and an early prewar aircraft that the covering has stripped off in flight.

All pictures Chaz Bowyer, Wellington at War, Ian Allan Ltd 1982

The geodesic framework of the wings, plainly visible under the fabric skin.

Not obsolete actually. I used one of these back in the day for appliance repair. The battery would last the day (more or less) but the 3 volt motor didn't have the power. The locking collet was useful to break screws loose, but it was easier to just use a real screwdriver.

Another garage sale find. I had never heard of the company, but apparently they are a Japanese maker of pliers, side cutters etc.This is a welcome addition to the toolbox, a nice high quality tool to replace a series of non-effective strap-type oil filter wrenches.

Friday, May 20, 2016

When this article appeared in the June1976 Cycle Guide we were all blown away. The Can Am dirtbikes were kickin' butt and here was a watercooled two stroke street bike, bigger, faster and more sophisticated than the giant killer Yamaha RD 350. Sadly it was never produced and Yamaha upped the ante with first the RD400 and then after the two stroke pollution drop-dead date of 1980 introduced the amazing RD350-LC. Canada loses again. No idea what happened to the prototypes shown in the article, I hope they're still around somewhere.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Introduced in 1962, the 153 cu in four was developed from the 230 inline six as the base engine for the Chevy II, probably in response to the Volkswagen and other imports. Never very popular, it was discontinued in 1970.